Thai court jails famous people the son of a Spanish actor to live there for the grisly killing of a Colombian plastic surgeon on a tropical holiday island in the case of the Spanish flu.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a 30-year-old chef with a YouTube channel, was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on the tourist island of Koh Phangan last August.
The case caused great interest in Spain because the defendant’s father, Rodolfo Sancho, was a well-known actor, and many Spanish journalists flew to the trial.
Sancho’s mother, Silvia Bronchalo, has also acted and both of his parents are on trial, The Associated Press reported, adding that they are both 49.
Bussakorn Kaewleeled, a lawyer for the victim’s family, said family members were happy with the outcome.
“The plaintiff is satisfied with the sentence because he will be put in prison for life and receive financial compensation,” Bussakorn told reporters outside the court on the island of Koh Samui.
“The verdict has been delivered, both sides have the right to appeal under Thai law,” added Bussakorn.
When asked about Sancho’s reaction, he said: “He is sad, but we cannot forget the loss of someone who has died.”
The court initially sentenced Sancho to death but commuted it to life imprisonment for his cooperation during the trial, AP reported, citing Police Colonel Paisan Sangthep, deputy commander of Surat Thani Provincial Police, who attended the trial.
Lurid details surrounding Arrieta’s death
Sancho claimed he killed Arrieta, 44, in self-defense and admitted hiding the body but denied destroying his Colombian passport.
The trial included testimony that Sancho cut up Arrieta’s body and put it in a plastic bag before distributing it on Koh Phangan.
Sancho led police to seven sites where victims’ bodies were allegedly dumped in plastic bags, CBS News partner network BBC News reported.
While Thailand still has the death penalty for some crimes, including premeditated murder, it rarely carries out executions – the last being in 2018.
Arrieta’s family said before the verdict that they preferred a life sentence.
“Let’s leave them in Thailand so they can take time, all the time God has given them to live, to think about what they did,” Darling Arrieta, the victim’s sister, said in an HBO documentary about the case.
“He not only broke my brother, but also broke my family.”
Disputed version of events
Sancho and Arrieta agreed to meet in person after getting to know each other online.
Sancho’s father said in the same HBO documentary that Arrieta had threatened his son, then “there was a fight, and in this fight, there was an accident.”
The defense argued that Sancho acted in legitimate self-defense after Arrieta tried to force him to have sex.
“He tried to rape me, and we fought,” Sancho said in a statement quoted by Spanish daily El Mundo.
Sancho testified that Arrieta collapsed during the fight and hit his head in the bathtub, losing consciousness and dying, the AP reported.
Another lawyer for the victim’s family, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, said in a recent interview with El Mundo that Sancho was living a “false reality.”
Ospina said it was proven in the trial in April that Sancho had bought knives, plastic bags and cleaning supplies before the crime and kept them in the room where the murder took place.
According to IMDB, Rodolfo Sancho has dozens of film and TV credits to his name and starred in “El Ministerio del Tiempo” (“The Ministry of Time”).